Pollen

[honeylover]

Can anyone explain why last year my bees put quite a lot of pollen in every frame in a whole super. The pollen was mostly dark brown in colour.

Thanks

Honeylover

[gavin]

Hi

Colonies do vary, but this sounds extreme. If you have a strong colony trying to make a big brood nest in a single brood box with a queen excluder and super over it you will often see an arch of polished cells in the super where the bees are waiting for the queen to lay. The queen, of course, can't get there. Around this they will store pollen, ready to feed the brood. If they were in an optimistic mood they may have tried to have that big brood nest with pollen around it. Then as the weather did its stuff and the colony's ambitions declined they may have done the same thing over a smaller area, and covered the outer pollen with honey to preserve it for later.

If you have bees with this empty arch into which they want to expand in the spring, I'd give them a second brood box. You can split the colony later, or take the second box away and shuffle frames later in the season, or winter them on two boxes.

Brown pollen might be clover.

best wishes

Gavin

[alan riach]

I used to think they only deposited pollen in the lower part of supers on single Smith (or National) brood boxes but since we started using Commercial depth broods they still do it. I've never seen it all over the super frames though -if it's nicely glazed over I guess they might take it back now.
Kind regards
Alan R

[honeylover]

Hi Gavin,
Thanks for the reply.
I have 4 colonies each with a single brood box, sadly I did not note from which hive the super came.
However last week I decided to feed and placed some Apifonda on top of all 4 brood boxes and noted that one particular hive had ten if not all frames stuffed with bees, its a smith by the way. This may be the hive in question, I have also been advised that due to the pop. I should consider putting a super on in early April to give expansion. If that is the case should I slash some brood stores so the bees remove the open honey up to the early super thereby creating laying space and hopefully avoiding an early swarm ?
Thanks,
Honeylover

[gavin]

Hi HL

If you have one colony on ten frames already then it is going to be a powerful colony! Mine are on 4-5, one is only barely two seams of bees.

There is no guarantee that a lively colony one year will be the same the next. Often it is the colonies with a new queen that take off in the subsequent spring, and those with queens two or more years old are less vigorous. Queens that are crosses between quite different types often have extra vigour - and these colonies are the ones that might give you trouble too as crosses can be something between slightly tetchy to utterly vicious.

If you have a colony with 10 seams of bees then it needs extra space soon. My preference would be to add a second brood box rather than a super as it will be trying to raise bees rather than store a surplus until the oilseed rape comes out, if you have that in your area. Whatever you do, they will need space soon. If you delay and they feel cramped, early swarming is inevitable.

I wouldn't score stores for two reasons - it is still too early to be pulling frames out, and the bees will move stores when they need the space. What is in those brood frames? If it is stored fondant or syrup then you will not want that transferred to supers anyway and you may be better to encourage them to make more bees.

best wishes

Gavin

[honeylover]

Hi Gavin,

Thanks for your advice.
I do not have OSR in my area, for which I am very pleased.
However with the unseasonally high temps the bees have been out and moving around on the front of the brood box quite a bit. I think I'll give them more space before much longer.

best wishes

HL